The Scrapster!

Made from scrap. Mainly old printers and cupboards :)

Day 1. I thought I'd annoy the neighbours for a few hours. Aren't routers LOUD! It's my first one. This is why I'm making something out of scrap. I'm just getting a feel for things. I think it's better to just do _something_ rather than sit and twiddle. I don't care if it looks shit. I don't really care too much if it never works well. Just as long as it goes. Anyway - here *I* go!

RZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZzzzzZZzZZz ZZzzZZzZZZzzzz!!!!!!

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And the result of the first few cuts was a pair of rail supports. Well, actually it was a close shave with an out-of-control router, but I'll save that story as a warning tale for my kids. Let's say the first thing that _worked_ was a pair of rail supports. These were clamped together and the bottom edge routed flat. Still clamped, I marked up and drilled the holes for the rails and drive shaft in a cheap-assed drill press that I bought. It doesn't even drill straight - it's going right back to China on the first slow boat let me tell you. I *know* you get what you pay for. Don't lecture me. If the wife finds out what I've just paid for, I'll sure as hell get it.

But at least I saved some money somewhere. Around the back of Halfords to be exact. Where I found the base. It was a palette, screen-wash most likely. Still, it's a flat surface which meant that I didn't have to make a base :)

The left rod is 10mm. The right is 9. It came from a smaller printer. Don't go on about it, you'll give the poor thing a twitch. I've got a pair of lovely 1/2'' rods (matron!) that came from a brace of HP inkjets that I scored from work. I'm saving those for the X axis, as it's going to be supporting the weight of the Z.

Here I've test fitted bits together.

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And now I've started squaring up and glueing. I've got the supports all clamped and glued nicely parallel. the Rods are perpendicular. (To the supports at least!)

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I didn't have a 9mm spade bit. Or any kind of bit, for that matter. So I thought I'd make a couple of these contraptions to stand a good chance of being able to make this Y axis slide without too much bind. I've squared off the head of one of the screws so I can adjust it with a spanner, as it'll be snuggled underneath.

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And here it is, in all its glory, in-place:

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The printers provided me with some good gear. The slide mechanism (that's a bit too grand, really) is the print-head carrier. I've dremmelled off all the inky bits, and just left these. As you can see, they're brass insets for low friction. Nice!

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And when the glue had set (at least enough for impatient me) I plopped the riders on the rails, routed up a board 1/2 the travel length and bolted the sucker down. I was going to glue it but In the nick of time I remembered little things such as drive mechanisms and replacing the top when I drive the Z axis a touch too far...

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Yaaay! It's starting to look like a machine. Sort of. You may think different, but bear in mind this is my first attempt at making anything mechanical *ever*. And like most things - it looks better in the sun.

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OK. That's it for today - I'm off for a beer and a wee thinky about Xs and Zs. Or I might just have a quick whizz on Wipeout 2097 - the best racing game ever made IMHO - and try and beat some of my lap records.

Hmmm ... or I could *just* pop that drive mech in... hmmm.